118
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
music video featuring a commercially successful artist and forming part of
radio stations’ transmedia storytelling strategies. Interestingly, the visual
elements of visualized radio covers are closer to self-made YouTube covers
as their medial characteristics adhere to the possibilities and limitations of
YouTube and online videos in general. Even though self-made cover videos
published on YouTube are not always recorded as live performances, the
small-scale production of visualized radio covers and the singing-head shot
are the two main characteristics that these music video subgenres share.
The small scale and what appears to be a less controlled arrangement (of an
artist’s performance) of visualized radio covers invites a viewing of these
performances that equally suggests access to an event that, as Strangelove
notes, 23 cannot be seen within the context of large-scale productions or
traditional media presentations. Even though the performer is a popular
recording artist, the visual informality of the video recording, the acoustic
nature of the cover and the usually comfy clothing selection offer a homier
atmosphere.
Covering is a process that is closely related to industry practices, but can
now originate from outside the industry as a form of “everyday creativity” 24
at the level of video production, and as a kind of demo at the level of musical
talent display. It may be argued, then, that the practice of self-made YouTube
cover videos is an evolution of the demo tape. Unedited and non-pre-recorded
YouTube cover videos may refer back to the sometimes poor quality of the
demo tape or in certain cases the DIO image-making of aspiring artists
and bands, but the publication of contemporary demo material by young
musicians goes beyond the limited circulation of the demo tape. Unlike
music track sharing websites (e.g. SoundCloud and Bandcamp), YouTube
covers are multi-media examples, but they may also engage in a kind of
transmedia relationship with the aforementioned music track sharing
sites. For example, YouTube user Mia Wray, whose music video cover is
discussed in the final part of this article, also has a SoundCloud account,
where she publishes her covers and original music. Wray lip-syncs to her
pre-recorded cover of “No Diggity vs. Thrift Shop,” which she also shares
on her SoundCloud account as a music track. Wray covers the base-status
acoustic mashup by Ed Sheeran and Passenger, which was performed live
by the two artists during a radio show, titled Fifi and Jules. Its visualized
version was shared on YouTube by a number of users.
23 Strangelove, Watching YouTube.
24 Jean Burgess and Joshua Green, YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture (Cambridge:
Polity Press, 2009).
AdAptAtion in the Age of MediA ConvergenCe
music video featuring a commercially successful artist and forming part of
radio stations’ transmedia storytelling strategies. Interestingly, the visual
elements of visualized radio covers are closer to self-made YouTube covers
as their medial characteristics adhere to the possibilities and limitations of
YouTube and online videos in general. Even though self-made cover videos
published on YouTube are not always recorded as live performances, the
small-scale production of visualized radio covers and the singing-head shot
are the two main characteristics that these music video subgenres share.
The small scale and what appears to be a less controlled arrangement (of an
artist’s performance) of visualized radio covers invites a viewing of these
performances that equally suggests access to an event that, as Strangelove
notes, 23 cannot be seen within the context of large-scale productions or
traditional media presentations. Even though the performer is a popular
recording artist, the visual informality of the video recording, the acoustic
nature of the cover and the usually comfy clothing selection offer a homier
atmosphere.
Covering is a process that is closely related to industry practices, but can
now originate from outside the industry as a form of “everyday creativity” 24
at the level of video production, and as a kind of demo at the level of musical
talent display. It may be argued, then, that the practice of self-made YouTube
cover videos is an evolution of the demo tape. Unedited and non-pre-recorded
YouTube cover videos may refer back to the sometimes poor quality of the
demo tape or in certain cases the DIO image-making of aspiring artists
and bands, but the publication of contemporary demo material by young
musicians goes beyond the limited circulation of the demo tape. Unlike
music track sharing websites (e.g. SoundCloud and Bandcamp), YouTube
covers are multi-media examples, but they may also engage in a kind of
transmedia relationship with the aforementioned music track sharing
sites. For example, YouTube user Mia Wray, whose music video cover is
discussed in the final part of this article, also has a SoundCloud account,
where she publishes her covers and original music. Wray lip-syncs to her
pre-recorded cover of “No Diggity vs. Thrift Shop,” which she also shares
on her SoundCloud account as a music track. Wray covers the base-status
acoustic mashup by Ed Sheeran and Passenger, which was performed live
by the two artists during a radio show, titled Fifi and Jules. Its visualized
version was shared on YouTube by a number of users.
23 Strangelove, Watching YouTube.
24 Jean Burgess and Joshua Green, YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture (Cambridge:
Polity Press, 2009).